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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>70632</law_id><section_number>19.2-242</section_number><catch_line>Accused discharged from jail if not indicted in time</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="19.2">Criminal Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="15">Trial and Its Incidents</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="1">Jurisdiction</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>A person in jail on a criminal charge that has been certified or otherwise transferred from a district <span class="dictionary">court</span> to a <span class="dictionary">circuit</span> <span class="dictionary">court</span> shall be discharged from imprisonment if a <span class="dictionary">presentment</span>, <span class="dictionary">indictment</span> or information be not found or filed against him before the end of the second term of the <span class="dictionary">court</span> at which he is held to answer, unless it appear to the <span class="dictionary">court</span> that <span class="dictionary">material</span> witnesses for the Commonwealth have been enticed or kept away or are prevented from attendance by sickness or inevitable accident, and except, also, in the cases provided in &#xA7;&#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Evaluation on motion of the Commonwealth after notice" href="/19.2-168.1/">19.2-168.1</a> and <a class="law" title="Raising question of competency to stand trial or plead; evaluation and determination of competency" href="/19.2-169.1/">19.2-169.1</a>. A discharge under the provisions of this section shall not, however, prevent a reincarceration after a <span class="dictionary">presentment</span> or <span class="dictionary">indictment</span> has been found.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 19.1-163; 1960, c. 366; 1975, c. 495; 2018, c. 551.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
